How To Ensure Your New Patient Arrives, Pays, And Stays

[00:00:00] This is why your front desk is so important. And because that front desk has to pick up the phone and call that patient and convert them into an initial evaluation, a scheduled initial evaluation that arrives, right? And the only way that we can ensure that that happens is through the language that we use on that phone call. There is no other component, right? So we want to be able to,

[00:00:23] we need to equip our front desk team with sales scripts for that first phone call that helps that patient feel heard, understood, clearly manages all of their expectations and handles and manages their objections so that they're excited about scheduling an appointment with you. Welcome to the Private Practice Owners Club. Your hosts and coaches, Nathan Shields scaled his

[00:00:52] practice and exited for millions, while Adam Robin went from working 60 hours a week in one clinic to scaling to multiple clinics while working less than four hours per week remotely. This podcast is meant to share with you exactly how they did it and how you can build a business that supports the lifestyle that you truly desire. And don't forget to join the Private Practice Owners Club community on Facebook, where we are obsessed with providing even more resources that help owners just like you

[00:01:19] win the game of private practice. Hello, and welcome to the Private Practice Owners Club podcast. I'm your host, Adam Robin. Today, I'm going to share with you something a little different. So as most of you know, or probably know, we have an awesome online community on Facebook. If you're not a member of it,

[00:01:44] you should be. Go to Facebook and join our Private Practice Owners Club Facebook group. In there, we host weekly live trainings, 30-minute quick trainings to help you level up every single week in your private practice. It's completely free and something that we're really proud of because we believe that our free content is better than most paid programs. This episode's a little different. I'm going to share with you our top performing weekly live training of last month.

[00:02:12] It's going to be about new patient arrivals. New patients are the lifeblood of your practice, and we're all familiar with that sinking pit in our stomach when we have a schedule full of new patients and they cancel on us. It impacts your revenue. It impacts your growth. It impacts your ability to keep your providers productive, and it really impacts the money that lands in your pocket at the end of the month too. So I'm going to share the recording in today's podcast,

[00:02:40] and I'd love for you guys to join our community. Tell me a little bit more about what you think about the training, and if you like it, we'll do more of these in the future. Enjoy. Today, we're going to talk about how to ensure that your patients arrive, pay, and stay. And then maybe there's another component after that, which is tell the whole world about how amazing you are, right? Arrive, pay, stay, tell the whole world about your place, about how amazing you are,

[00:03:07] about the impact that you made in the lives of them. Yeah, April says she's busy too, all right? So what we want to do is avoid no-shows, cancellations, empty schedules, because everyone wins when the patient shows up. Everyone. When the patients show up, they get better. They get the results that they need. When the patient shows up, your clinicians, your team gets to fulfill their purpose. They get to help. They get to empower the patient.

[00:03:32] So the team wins. When the patient shows up, the business wins as well. The community wins. The profession wins. Everybody wins when the patient shows up, all right? So what we want to do is try to create this picture of all of your new patients who are scheduled are showing up for their initial evaluation. How many of you have, you know, you'll go into the day or you'll look at tomorrow's schedule and you'll be like, wow, I got like three or four new patients coming in tomorrow. Heck yeah.

[00:04:00] Amazing. You get to sleep at night. You get to say, kids, we're going to be able to go out to eat this weekend, right? Then the next day you get there and they don't show up. Those evals don't show up. They kind of drop off the schedule. Huge pain in the butt. Huge impact to your ability to serve patients. Also your ability to like generate revenue in the clinic. Okay. So we want to create an environment in which every new patient arrives for their evaluation on time, fully prepared with

[00:04:30] their credit card in hand, right? They stay for their entire plan of care. And then once they leave, they tell the entire world about how amazing you are. Your team operates like a well-oiled machine. They have clear protocols and accountability that ensures maximum patient retention and profitability, right? Does that sound good? For those of you who don't know me, my name is Adam Robin. I'm a physical

[00:04:54] therapist. I opened my practice in 2019. The strategy was work hard, harder than anybody else, work as many hours as you needed and treat my patients better than anybody else would. And that strategy worked for a little while until the business grew to a small team of about three or four. And what I started to recognize was that the business that was demanding something a little different from me, but I didn't know what. And so my strategy was just work harder, just do what I'm

[00:05:24] doing, but do more of it. And I thought I was going to be able to dig myself out of a hole, but instead I had to learn the hard way that I was actually digging myself into a hole. And it wasn't until I hit rock bottom that I actually hired a coach and my life transformed. I since have completely stepped out of treatment. I built a leadership team. I've opened two more clinics. I have three clinics. We have about 40 or 50 people on our team and I have a leadership team in place that runs the business for me. And now I get to help you guys win the game of private practice. That's kind of what

[00:05:53] I'm passionate about now. Cool. All right, let's get to the good stuff. I'm going to give you three steps with maybe a fourth, three steps to doing this with a fringe fourth step. Okay. Get your pens out. All right. So the referral is faxed to your office. That's step one, right? Whether it's an e-fax or some type of printed referral, I have a referral in my hand. I want to transition this piece of paper

[00:06:22] into a new patient that arrives on time. And there's one person in your business who has the power to make it happen. Who is it? Your front desk. This is why your front desk is so important. And because that front desk has to pick up the phone and call that patient and convert them into an initial evaluation, a scheduled initial evaluation that arrives, right? And the only way that we can ensure

[00:06:51] that that happens is through the language that we use on that phone call. There is no other component, right? So we want to be able to, we need to equip our front desk team with sales scripts for that first phone call that helps that patient feel heard, understood, clearly manages all of their expectations and handles and manages their objections so that they're excited about scheduling an appointment

[00:07:20] with you. Okay. So equipping your team with sales scripts is, is, is huge for that first phone call. We also want to create this really, this first step is really about empowering your front desk, empowering your front desk, right? And so we want to create some onboarding protocols for them, some type of checklist, right? Some type of system that has followed. Troy, we had a conversation about

[00:07:48] this maybe a couple months ago. Okay. So an onboarding script or an onboarding protocol of what to do. Step one, print off the referral. Step two, input the patient's information into the EMR like this. One, two, three. Step three, pick up the phone, right? Call that patient, hang up, text that patient, get them on the phone, right? Collect X, Y, Z information, right? So we want to have clear

[00:08:18] onboarding protocols so that your team, your front desk is really, really clear on how to convert that script into a plane of care. And then lastly, there's only two reasons why an initial evaluation doesn't show up. There's only two reasons. Reason number one is they don't want to show up, right? They're not bought into what you're doing. They don't feel heard. They don't feel like you understand what their problem is. They don't feel like you really listened to them. They don't trust

[00:08:48] you. That's what the sales scripts are for. The only other reason why they wouldn't show up is that they're confused. They don't understand. They either don't understand where you're located. They don't understand what's expected of them when they were supposed to show up, right? They forgot. Maybe they forgot, like got busy, right? So they got confused or distracted because they weren't

[00:09:14] reminded or educated on what was expected of them and what success looks like, okay? So the only way to manage confusion in your customers is to increase the level of education that you provide. If confusion goes up, education must go up. By the way, that's a good principle for not just patients, but also your team as well. So we want to make sure that we have reminders in place

[00:09:39] via text message and email reminders, a series of automated reminders to remind that patient to show up one time, right? We want to ensure that we call them and remind them. Maybe the day before their appointment, we give them a call and say, hey, April, this is Adam over at Southern Physical Therapy Clinic just to call and confirm you have an appointment tomorrow at one o'clock with Dr.

[00:10:04] Taney Crawford, right? That's education. That's you elevating the amount of education that you're providing, and that will minimize the confusion, okay? So step one, sales script. Sales script that helps the patient feel heard and understood with clear onboarding protocols for your front desk. Step one, step two, step three, step four, step five. So you have to really like sit down at the

[00:10:30] front desk and start, pretend like a referral came off the counter and you have to start writing down what you're doing. Just grab a piece of paper and a pencil and start writing down. That becomes your process. And then the third thing is maximizing education with reminders and confirmations about the arrival. That's step one. Equipping and empowering your front desk. When your patient feels heard, when they feel understood, when they're clear on what's expected of them, and your front desk is

[00:10:59] very clear and empowered on what the protocol is, what the language that they have to use, and what the ideal outcome looks like, you will start having more patients that arrive on time. Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. Hey, it's Adam. I'm serious about one thing, growth. Personal and professional growth. Because everybody wins when you get better.

[00:11:28] One of the most powerful ways to grow is by surrounding yourself with people who challenge the way you think. That's exactly why we built the Private Practice Owners Club Facebook group. But this isn't just another random group. We're intentional about creating a space for growth. Inside, you'll find weekly live trainings, all of our free resources, access to our entire coaching team for your questions, plus connections with industry partners, digital marketing, billing,

[00:11:55] legal, EMR, compliance, and more to support you every step of the way. So stop what you're doing and check out the show notes. Click the link titled Facebook group to join today. We need people like you to help us build an even stronger community of passionate practice owners, especially the ones committed to growth. Step two. This was huge. This was really, really big for me when I started to

[00:12:24] understand this concept. And it was this idea of managing expectations. Maybe you've heard of that before. Maybe you haven't, but I didn't know what that was for a long time when I was running my practice. But the point is that it is your responsibility. It is you and your team's responsibility to ensure that the patients or the new patients' expectations are managed and managed well.

[00:12:51] Right. What is expected of them and what do they expect from you? Right. We have to create some agreements to make sure that we're on the same page. Everybody knows what that means. Right. The way that you get on the same page is that you manage the expectations of the patient on the other end of that phone call. Right. Because you want that patient to show up really clear on what success

[00:13:16] looks like and what to expect. Right. Because there's going to be some inconvenience that they have to get through during this onboarding process. Right. If they show up on time, they're going to we all know about that new patient paperwork. Right. They're going to have to do new patient paperwork. That's a pain in the butt. We're going to have to get their ID. We're going to have to have them sign paperwork. We're going to have to ask for some money. Right. They're going to have a copay. Those are all hoops that we're asking them to jump through

[00:13:46] just so we can get back to see the therapist. Right. And here's the thing that I learned. And it's that patients and people, they are OK with inconvenience. Inconvenience is OK as long as they're given a heads up. The only time it becomes a problem is if if it's unexpected. Right. So if they think they're coming to therapy and they're just going to show up and get treatment and then you say, oh, by the way, you owe me one hundred dollars before we get started.

[00:14:16] You are a jerk. Right. And their eyes like you're like, wait, what do you mean? Why didn't you tell me that on the phone call? What do you mean I've got to fill out all this paperwork? I'm not here to do all that. I'm here to see the therapist. Right. So you're already decreasing the trust that you're establishing with that patient. So this is huge. So like when you're put yourself in the patient's brain for a second, when they show up, how do you want them to feel?

[00:14:39] Right. First of all, you want them to know that, hey, by the way, April, your appointment is at one o'clock and I need you to arrive at twelve thirty so that you can complete your new patient paperwork. There will be five pieces of paper that you will get prior to your appointment with Dr. Crawford. Right. So now I know now I know as the patient, I know that my appointment's at one, but now I have

[00:15:06] to arrive at twelve thirty because there's some things that we have to do. There's some business that we have to take care of. Probably a good thing that your front desk needs to know to be able to remind them of on the first phone call. Right. So they need to have that script. Also, April, please be sure that you bring your I.D. and your health insurance and but repair, you will have a twenty dollar copay to treat to see Dr. Crawford tomorrow and that payment will be due

[00:15:32] at the time of service. Right. So now my expectations are met. I know exactly what I'm getting myself into. OK. And then here's the other one. Before you hang up, it's like, do you know where we're located? I don't know how many times people will just hang up the phone and they don't even know where you're located. They don't know your address. They don't know. I don't know anything. Right. Right. So make sure your front desk is equipped with some language to describe your location. Yeah. We're right on the corner and right across the street from Walgreens.

[00:16:02] Right. Or right across the street from Walmart. Do you know where that's at? Where are you coming from? Yep. You're going to come down Highway 11. You're the first person on the left. Right. So they know where we are. They know what time I need to arrive. They know the money that they're going to have to pay. They know what to bring with them. They know the doctor that they're seeing. Trust is through the roof. Right. So step two is managing the expectations of that patient.

[00:16:25] That will ensure so much trust. Right. Because when they show up for that intake process to see your front desk person and they say, welcome, April, welcome to Southern Physical Therapy Clinic. I am so glad to see you today. Dr. Crawford's expecting you. Here is the five pieces of paperwork that I told you about on the phone call. How would you like to pay your copay today? It's like, wow, these guys are girls. How they've got it going on. They told me five pieces of paperwork and look at that.

[00:16:55] One, two, three, four, five. Wow. That's exactly what they said. I trust them a lot because they know exactly what they're doing. And the only way that we can create that type of experience for your front desk or for your patients is by being intentional about it. We have to be concerned about what their experience is and not through their eyes, not through our eyes. That is the thing that will enroll them into their plan of care. OK, so step one is the sales script. Equipting your team.

[00:17:24] Step two is managing the expectations of your new patients. They will arrive on time. Step three. And we've already talked about this some. But once they get through that onboarding process, it's time to see Dr. Tanny, the physical therapist, the occupational therapist, the speech therapist, the mental health practitioner, the clinician. It's the sales process. It's the enrollment meeting. It's the opportunity for you to really understand what their problems are, what their goals are, what their limitations are.

[00:17:52] And to be able to articulate, like, I understand that and this is what it looks like to work with us. This is what it looks like for us to be able to help you get that. Right. So we have to train your providers how to sell the plan of care. All the agreements, the agreements are made on that first phone call, when to arrive, what to expect when you get here, what to bring. All those agreements for the arrival are made on that first phone call.

[00:18:19] All the agreements for the plan are made during that initial evaluation. Right. So if you let that patient leave the initial evaluation and expectations are not established or managed, you are setting yourself up for a patient who's going to be noncompliant and who's not going to be able to complete their plan of care. You're not going to be able to serve them. You're not going to be able to help them. Right. So we need to train our providers on how to do that. So they need to have scripts in place.

[00:18:44] They need to understand the language to use to help patients feel heard, understood, validated, to make sure that they understand how to get really clear on what the patient's goals are and what they really want to do, what their limitations are, and to position their service as a solution to help them. Right. So we need to train our providers to do that. A lot of you, if you're the owner, you're probably doing a lot of that naturally.

[00:19:08] And so what you could do, you could start recording your initial evaluations and start creating some scripting. Not that you have to like say the same thing every single time, but a framework that can be used to help create a consistent experience for your patients. OK. And here's the thing. All of this, if you do this, well, if you have a great phone call, a great phone call that really helps the patient feel validated.

[00:19:35] Expectations are managed. They show up. Your plan of care just serves the heck out of them in that evaluation room. You are going to elevate your trust level to the max. Right. And the tools to do that well is leadership and language. Right. You have to be a leader and lead your team well and equip them with the language that they can use to find inspiration so that they can provide that type of experience for your patients.

[00:20:00] So in order to do all of that, you'll want to role play these these conversations, role play these conversations with yourself, role play these conversations with your team and practice, because it's really all about showing up as a powerful leader for those patients. And that takes practice. That's a skill that's cultivated. And you can practice on your patients, but I wouldn't recommend it. I would recommend practicing with your team so that you can give a lot of value with your patients.

[00:20:25] OK, the fringe fourth step is to measure these things with statistics. So we're all familiar with measuring arrival rate or cancellation rate. I used I like to use arrival rate, but there's really only one person responsible for new patient arrival rate. Right. So like if you have 10 scheduled evaluations this week and only eight show up, that's an 80 percent new patient arrival rate.

[00:20:52] And that statistic is directly correlated by the type of experience that your front desk is providing on the first phone call. OK, so if you could start measuring that stat regularly and you can help your front desk understand what that stat means and have it reported to you and start working with them to improve upon it, you'll start to see that number rise and you'll start to make a bigger impact for your patients. OK, so a new patient arrival rate is one.

[00:21:19] The percentage of completed plans of care, meaning the percentage of patients who actually show up for all of their appointments and discharge as expected. That is going to be a statistic that measures the type of experience you're providing for your customers from front desk to establishing the plan of care, helping them remain accountable throughout the plan of care.

[00:21:40] OK, and then conversion rates, conversion rates from script to scheduled patient, conversion rates from new patient to scheduled plan of care. All of those metrics are telling you how well your team is performing during those patient touch points. So there's the three steps with a fringe forth. This recording will be placed in the live training sheet that you guys will see. Keep your eyes on the group.

[00:22:06] You'll see that comment below, like what your big one or two takeaways were was from this training or any other additional questions that you have. Happy to go back and forth with you guys. If you want more information about how to do this, shoot me a DM. I'll actually drop my link to send me a message below. I'll tell you how we help deploy this type of framework and practices to help others win. You guys are amazing and inspiring. And I love you. Talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Private Practice Owners Club.

[00:22:36] If you enjoyed this episode, would you mind doing us a huge favor and leaving a review? This helps us get the podcast out to more clinic owners to help them create greater freedom and profits so they can own their future. And visit our website, ppoclub.com, to find more resources and connect with us. Thank you.